In 2016 Riverside Consulting CIC agreed an exciting three year partnership with the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Jiao Tong University in Shanghai. Covering all of China, our partnership sees us bringing the UK's experience of managing ADHD wth children by delivering training programmes to medical staff, parents, and teachers in Chinese hospitals and schools.

Key symptoms of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) include inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. Children diagnosed with ADHD often fail to achieve their potential socially or educationally because of the impact of their disorder.

Relationships with family and friends can be difficult to sustain because of these behaviour traits. The training Riverside Consulting CIC delivers focuses on better understanding and being able to take practical steps to support ADHD sufferers. It includes such topics as condition diagnosis and management, sleep management, sensory sensitivity strategies, rules and routines.

Our partnership in China is led by Professor Yasong Du (pictured right) who is an eminent mental health expert both in China and internationally. Professor Du sits on a number of China's central Mental Health Committees advising the Chinese government on policy and delivery. It was Professor Du who played a key part in recruiting Riverside Consulting CIC to deliver the specialised training in China.

Our lead Training Associates, Marie Ashwood from Selkirk and Tony House from Hawick, are both experienced senior mental health practitioners in the child and adolescent mental health field. Both Marie and Tony have previous experience of training mental health staff in China - from which Riverside Consulting CIC was able to grow this partnership.

Recently we have added further skilled trainers from the Occupational Health/ADHD sector to our delivery team.

To date Riverside Consulting CIC's specialists have delivered training in the Mental Health Centre in Shanghai (twice), in the Women's and Children's Hospital in Qingdao,and in the Maternal and Child's Health Care Hospital in Shenzen. Audiences typically include medical staff, parents and teachers. In 2018 we will be delivering another training programme in Shenzhen, one in Jiangmen and in two other cities.

Our training programme includes a 'live' case conference with audience members bringing in one of their cases for analysis and review: this has proven very effective in allowing delegates to understand how different approaches between the UK and China can best work together.

In May 2017 we were honoured to be lead speakers at the inaugural China-UK ADHD Conference in Xi'an. We presented to over 300 delegates in a partnership between Jiao Tong Universitry and the Xi'an Children's Hospital.

The success of the training programme led to invitations to deliver training to four more Chinese hospitals plus a return invitation from Riverside Consulting CIC's Chinese partners who are working on visiting Scotland and the North East to see how mental health services for young people are planned and delivered.

Riverside Consulting CIC was helped in developing this iinternational partnership by expert support from both the UK Department of Trade and Industry and the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC).